Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Restorative Justice (Reparation of Victims) Bill 2013. I recognise that Deputy Halligan has introduced the Bill in a sincere attempt to deal the perpetrators of certain crimes by keeping them out of our prison system. Particularly in the case of juvenile crime, I think we can all agree that is a direction we need to follow. Restorative justice as an alternative to the prison system should become part of the justice process. There are those who might say that it is trivialising crime but incarceration is too severe a penalty for certain crimes. Far from trivialising crime, restorative justice is a genuine attempt to prevent recidivism while keeping victims and their families at the heart of the process. Of course, it should not proceed unless the victim's consent has been obtained.

This is part of a new policy direction which looks at crime differently by focusing on the needs of victims, offenders and communities instead of simply punishing the offender. Doing time does not necessarily work and it certainly is not the best way for offenders to take responsibility for their actions. It is often far better for the victim to obtain an apology and be recompensed for his or her loss or require the offender to perform community service. In some countries fostering dialogue between the victim and offender has proven to be the most satisfactory for the victim in that the offender must account for his or her actions and the victim can in turn explain the pain and suffering that the crime caused.

Aspects of the Bill before us should be considered carefully and I ask the Department of Justice and Equality, which is currently examining the EU victims' directive with a view to bringing forward legislation to deal with victim's rights, to consider Deputy Halligan's proposals. It is imperative that victims of crime receive appropriate information, advise and protection. The Criminal Justice ( Community Sanctions) Bill will replace the Probation of Offenders Act 1907, which deals with community sanctions and the role of the Probation Service. The heads of that Bill are being considered by the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence in the context of its pre-legislative scrutiny role. I ask Deputy Halligan to make a submission to the joint committee on the Bill. The committee recently completed hearings on the potential that a community court service might offer. It was most interesting to learn about the approaches taken in other countries, most notably including New York, where it has proven a great success.

The Minister, Deputy Shatter, sat in on the consultation with stakeholders which outlined his commitment to addressing and considering this in great detail. At that meeting he committed to establishing a pilot scheme which would be specifically tailored for the city of Dublin. I welcome that interesting direction in which we should be going. It is something that will benefit everybody. Even if one looks at the economics of the situation, it will benefit us in that regard as well.

I also want at this point to acknowledge the excellent work being carried out by An Garda Síochána in its efforts to reduce crime to protect us all, in particular, the work of the community liaison gardaí who work so diligently within the communities. Therefore, it is with regret I would have to say that while there are aspects of this Bill that contain good ideas there are other aspects of it which have been widely outlined by previous speakers. I will not go into them now. As I stated earlier, I would urge the Department to consider the proposals within the Bill when it is looking at the EU victim's directive and that Deputy Halligan would make a submission to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality when it is considering the pre-legislative scrutiny.

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